New York Times endorses Clinton and McCain

New York: The New York Times editorial board has endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain in the presidential race.

In editorials posted on the newspaper's website, the board argued forcefully on Clinton's behalf, while saying that McCain, was the best of a flawed Republican field with which the board had "strong disagreements". The editorial excoriated former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, saying the Republican "first shamelessly turned the horror of 9/11 into a lucrative business, with a secret client list, then exploited his city's and the country's nightmare to promote his presidential campaign".

"The real Mr Giuliani, whom many New Yorkers came to know and mistrust, is a narrow, obsessively secretive, vindictive man who saw no need to limit police power. Racial polarisation was as much a legacy of his tenure as the rebirth of Times Square," the board said.

The board said its case for Clinton was based on more than her accomplishments, adding that the senator "sometimes overstates the importance of resume".

The board also spoke favourably of Clinton's main rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama, calling him "incandescent".

But it concluded that "we need more specifics to go with his amorphous promise of a new governing majority, a clearer sense of how he would govern".